Earning more awards than any other health institution in the state, the Health Science Center received six Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) awards in April from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Totaling more than $530,000, the awards were granted to six researchers for current studies that could lead to groundbreaking results in the health care arena.

"This is exceptional news for our institution," said Brian Herman, Ph.D., vice president for research. "We had a limit of 22 proposals that we could submit, and received 6 percent of the awards and 6 percent of the money."

The ARP/ATP grants were created by the Texas Legislature in 1987 as competitive, peer-reviewed grants programs to fund scientific and engineering research projects of faculty members at Texas higher education institutions.

"It is a rigorous peer-review process in which our institution performed very well," Dr. Herman said. "We’re proud to be the state’s top health-institution recipient. This proves that our research is recognized as state-of-the-art, and the contributions of our researchers are being recognized more broadly in the state of Texas. I am hopeful and expect that our success with this program will only continue to grow."